Press Release: Blair Levin Joins Brookings as a Nonresident Senior Fellow
WASHINGTON, October 6, 2014 —Blair Levin, telecommunications expert and former Communications & Society Fellow at the Aspen Institute, has joined the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program as a nonresident senior fellow, Bruce Katz, Brookings vice president and Metropolitan Policy Progr
Blair will join the Program’s Metropolitan Infrastructure Initiative, which is directed by Brookings Senior Fellow Robert Puentes. Blair’s work will continue to focus on the nexus between broadband availability, market structure, and the health of metropolitan economies. In this capacity, he will work to inform city efforts to apply innovative practices to expand broadband access.
“In this rapidly evolving, information-rich era, broadband is essential to growing businesses and helping households improve their lives,” said Robert Puentes. “We are ecstatic to work with Blair in this important area.”
Mr. Levin joins Brookings after four years at the Aspen Institute Communication and Society Program where he served as executive director of Gig.U, a consortium of university research communities working toward accelerating the deployment of next generation broadband networks in the United States.
Before joining the Aspen Institute, Mr. Levin worked for the Federal Communications Commission, where he served as the Executive Director of the Omnibus Broadband Initiative and oversaw the development of a National Broadband Plan, a project of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Mr. Levin rejoined the Commission in 2009 after eight years as an analyst at Legg Mason and Stifel Nicolaus.
Mr. Levin served as Chief of Staff to FCC Chairman Reed Hundt from 1993 to 1997 and oversaw implementation of the historic 1996 Telecommunications Reform Act. Prior to working at the FCC, Mr. Levin was a partner in the North Carolina law firm of Parker, Poe, Adams and Bernstein. He is a summa cum laude graduate of Yale College and Yale Law School.
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